THE ENVELOPE

The actual balloon is referred to as The Envelope, which is constructed from long nylon sections called gores.
The gores extend from the base of the envelope to the crown and are made up of many smaller panels. The main part of the envelope (the
bottom two thirds) is normally made from a combination of nylon or polyester, the same type of material that parachutes are made of. It
is very tightly woven and is coated with a material that makes it extremely air tight and durable. Nylon works very well in balloons
because it is lightweight, but it is also fairly sturdy and has a high melting temperature.

The bottom part of the envelope, referred to as the skirt (nearest to the burner) is made from a material called Nomex. Nomex is an industry standard flame resistant material used in other industries such as Formula 1 Racing
and also in the suits of Firefighters. It is used near the mouth (base) of the envelope as this is area prone to the most heat from the
burner.

The material used nearer the top of the envelope is known as Hyperlast. It has been around for many years and is used just in this
top 3rd of the envelope. What makes Hyperlast desirable to use is that the nylon base fabric is woven from a heavier yarn, which increases
the strength a great deal. Also Hyperlast has a silicone coating added to both sides of the fabric which helps to protect the envelope from
the growth of mould or fungi.

Envelopes come in many different shapes and sizes, depending on what the balloon will be used for. You can see here the many different types of envelope offered by Cameron
Balloons, one of the most established UK manufacturers of all balloon products.

SPECIALIST FABRIC TYPES

For some more information about specialist fabric types visit the Cameron Balloon website where they explain in detail about their own specially developed fabrics, Calibre,
Hyperlite and Kevron.

SPECIAL SHAPES

Follow this link to see a list of sites which have pictures and information on
special shape envelopes. Special shapes are normally used as promotion for companies or just made by keen balloonists to show off at the
many balloons festivals all over the world. We have a large selection of
Special Shape photos in our eballoon photo directory.